After two years of major disruption in arts, culture and creative industries, King’s College London is seeking a diverse team of educators and researchers to reinvigorate the sector in the capital and beyond
It’s a stimulating time to be at the heart of cultural teaching and research, says Nick Wilson, head of the Culture, Media and Creative Industries (CMCI) department at King’s College London. “We’ve never been more connected in terms of technology, yet disconnected thanks to the pandemic,” he says. “It’s had a particular impact on the performing arts, museums and festivals, and yet we need to make those connections more than ever with the backdrop of movements such as Black Lives Matter, #MeToo and the climate crisis.”
CMCI was launched as a research centre in 2002 and became a full department in 2011. Its research was ranked top in the UK for “power” in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework, and both programmes and staffing have expanded since then.
CMCI is now recruiting for eight new posts, a mix of permanent and temporary research-focused and academic education pathway positions. These will span arts and cultural management, arts and public engagement, cultural entrepreneurship, cultural policy and management, festivals and events, global media cultures, memory, museums and heritage, and the music industry.
These new posts reflect both the journey the department is on and the wider context of how arts, culture and music will emerge from the pandemic. “Several of the posts focus on how we do teaching and learning, how we develop new and stronger education connections and new pedagogies,” Wilson says. “But research will also support some of the sectors that have been badly hit, such as festivals and museums, or expand our understanding of global media cultures rather than taking a purely western and central European focus.”
CMCI has four strategic priorities – inclusivity, sustainability, care and reflexivity – and its research builds on these pillars. The department is centrally involved with the EU-funded Developing Inclusive and Sustainable Creative Economies (DISCE) project, for example, which aims to enhance the growth, inclusivity and sustainability of creative and cultural endeavours across Europe.
King’s is also the lead UK research organisation in the Covid-19 and Resetting Cultural Policy project, run in partnership with Equity, Doshisha University in Japan, and Arts Council England.
The prioritisation of care is exemplified in the way CMCI supports staff, students and creative partners. There is a focus on well-being but also on playing a transformational role in society. The most recent round of recruitment included posts under culture and activism, race and diversity studies, and innovations in research.
The department itself comprises a diverse international cohort with nearly 80 modules on offer. New post-holders will be joining a vibrant and forward-looking department that embraces interdisciplinarity, creativity and diversity, and which genuinely seeks to nurture students and staff.
“In the current climate, it’s difficult to choose what to value and care about because it’s such a time of contradiction,” Wilson says. “This is where CMCI and our graduates come in as we can make those connections. We’re trying to give them opportunities to connect and empower, to care about creativity but also take responsibility to help others.”
Find out more about CMCI at King’s College London.
